BabyStep Smiles
by JustBFree
Summary: From the 2008 film War, Inc. A moment between assassin Brand Hauser and pop-star Yonica BabyYeah. One Shot.


It had been barely a week after their escape from Turaqistan when Natalie's article hit the press. Her eviscerating expose hit on all topics, from the corruption in the American government to the desperately seeking powers of the Tamerlane corporation. No stone had been left unturned. Hauser smiled to see Natalie's name in print, but he didn't concern himself much with her article. They had parted soon after landing Yonica's marriage jet- she'd fluttered off, away from them, energized and ready to write.

Governments rose and fell, but as he'd told her, business would prevail over all.

Brand knew only too well. Not three days had gone by and he'd received ten offers for world leader assassinations. With the sudden death of the Viceroy and the eruptions of war that had followed moments later, business was again booming for coups and hostile takeovers. He'd politely refused all offers; the sudden reunion with his daughter had Hauser thrown. He wasn't sure what he would do now that the girl was in his life. Naturally, her safety was paramount, but he knew that he couldn't keep her to himself forever.

She was famous; her absence would not go unnoticed, not even in the Third World.

Hauser looked up as she stepped out to join him on the porch. He still lived in the home that he'd shared with his wife, where his daughter had been conceived, born and stolen. He'd given Yonica the nursery room that had been intended for her; it was small and the baby-yellow walls were faded, but she had not complained. She wasn't demanding star treatment here with him.

"I left word with my manager- I did not say where I was, only that I was on a secret vacation."

The girl had shed the heavy makeup and trash clothes that she'd worn just the week before. In place of a pop sar was simply a girl; a sad, lonely girl with a foreign accent, but a girl all the same. His girl.

Today she was wearing a pair of jeans and a hoodie. Hauser knew that it was the standard uniform for a sixteen year old girl, he had surprised her by providing several different outfits. She had been grateful, even going so far as to kiss him on the cheek.

"That's good. No one needs to know what's happening yet." Hauser nodded, inviting her to join him.

She sat down beside him on the cushioned bench. "Have you decided what you will do?"

He gave her a noncommittal shrug. "No, Yonica. For the first time in years, I don't have a plan. It's strangely liberating"

There was a silence as she seemed to think over his words. "You don't have to call me that."

"What?"

"Yonica. It's not my name, not really. You can call me Cara."

Hauser thought about that. "I won't ask you to change your name for me."

"It's not changing it- it is _reclaiming_it. Just as you reclaimed me, I will reclaim Cara. You searched years for Cara. Now she is here, Hauser."

Brand sat for a moment, thinking about it. Yes, he'd spent so long in a desperate search for his daughter, going in circles and hitting dead ends until he'd forgotten his baby's face. When he hadn't been able to call up the image of his lost daughter, Hauser had given up, resigning himself to the horrible truth: that one of his enemies had found him, and taken everything that had mattered.

He'd been dead inside for all the years that had followed.

Yonica lowered her eyes as she saw Hauser remembering what must have been a horrible time in his life. Perhaps she had been too forward in mentioning Cara, the baby he remembered. She had been through many difficult times in her young life, and this was yet another crossroad for her. Would she and Hauser part ways, he back to his life as an assassin and she going back to cutting trash records?

She shook her head. _No._No matter what, she would not be Yonica BabyYeah again. That was over. She wanted to be something else, especially now that she had a choice for herself. She would no longer be a pop star, or a media whore or Ooq-Mi-Fay's future trophy wife. Yonica frowned to herself.

_What will I become now that I can be anything?_

The possibilities were frighteningly endless. She was young, she was rich and she now knew who she was. There was a tenuous power in knowing that she was no longer alone in the world.

Beside her, Hauser cleared his throat. "You really wouldn't mind if I called you that?" His question was careful.

Things between them were strained; there was so much to go over, so much divergent history to cover that they mutually flinched when the thought occurred. Hauser didn't want her to think her identity would be subsumed into the memory of his lost child, and Yonica didn't want to serve as a living reminder of the family that had been taken away from him. She wanted to ask about her mother, to see the woman's picture, but there was that..._distance_ to cover with her father first.

"No, I don't mind. And besides, I'm over being Yonica. She was getting tiresome- all the dancing and touring, the drinking and drugs. There is a word...tedious, I think. I've had enough."

Hauser nodded. "Cara."

"Yes. Cara, not Yonica."

"Thank you."

His girl smiled then, and outshined the sun. "Hauser?"

"Hmm?"

"May I call you father?"

His eyes widened, and then he smiled- she was happy to see that their smiles were similar, it was all in the dimples.


End file.
